As Earth's population continues to increase (along with its trash output), the ability to effectively manage all that waste management is becoming an ever-more-urgent concern.

India, with its population of nearly 1.3 billion people, produces nearly 110,000 metric tons of solid waste every day. It's a colossal amount of garbage — and, surprisingly, it's key to the livelihood of many impoverished families, who spend their days recovering recyclable materials from India's landfills and garbage dumps to repurpose or sell.

Photographers in India captured this collection of images showing these "garbage pickers" salvaging the recyclable materials from trash dumps.

India currently produces about 40 million metric tons of garbage each year.

REUTERS/Adnan Abidi

Much of that garbage ends up in heaps like this one in New Delhi, where two women are searching for recyclable materials.

REUTERS/Ahmad Masood

By 2025, the World Bank estimates this number will rise to more than 137 million metric tons per year.

REUTERS/Ahmad Masood

Meanwhile, the World Bank estimates that more than 300 million Indian citizens live in poverty. Many scavenge recyclable materials to make a living. These people are searching for recyclables in a garbage dump in New Delhi.

REUTERS/Ahmad Masood

Sometimes, such people work with municipal waste management authorities, who pay them for their efforts. Here, a man fills a sack with recyclables at a garbage dump in Bangalore.

REUTERS/Abhishek N. Chinnappa

Plastic is an obvious target. This man is napping on top of a giant bag filled with plastic bottles on a roadside in New Delhi.

REUTERS/Anindito Mukherjee

That plastic will end up in a facility like this recycling workshop in Mumbai, where a worker uses a rope to navigate through the heaps.

REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui

But plenty of other materials can bring a profit, as well. This man is stripping the copper wiring from electrical cables at a scrap shop in Dharavi.

REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui

This man is working at an iron scrap yard in Chennai.

REUTERS/Babu

Salvaged metal can be repurposed at metal parts recycling factories, like this one in Mumbai.

REUTERS/Vivek Prakash

Even scrap leather has its uses. This leather will be made into fertilizer at a factory in Kolkata.

REUTERS/Ahmad Masood

This boy is scavenging for plastic a dump in Guwahati — but there are other places valuable materials can be found.

REUTERS/Utpal Baruah

This boy is collecting floating recyclable materials from the waters of the river Sabarmati, which is in the city of Ahmedabad.

REUTERS/Amit Dave

This boy, on the other hand, is collecting materials from a dried-up portion of the same river.

REUTERS/Amit Dave

Working at recycling facilities is another way of getting by. This man is carting plastic drums to a facility in Mumbai.

REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui

Here, a man tosses a chair onto the furnace at an iron and steel factory in Jammu.

REUTERS/Mukesh Gupta

And this man washes out an old paint bucket for recycling at a facility in Mumbai.